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Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper
Hendrikje "Henny" van Andel-Schipper (29 June 1890 – 30 August 2005) was a validated Dutch supercentenarian. She was the oldest person in Europe at the time of her death and remains the Dutch longevity recordholder. She broke the record of Catharina van Dam-Groeneveld (1887–2001) and extended it with roughly two years to the age of 115 years, 62 days. Biography Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper was born as Hendrikje Schipper in the small village of Kloosterveen (by now part of Assen, The Netherlands) on 29 June 1890 to parents Marines Schipper and Eberta Venekamp. Born several months too early, as well as often being sick in her childhood, it was advised that she would not attend school. As a result, she was homeschooled by her parents - but would later end up in front of class as a teacher, when she started teaching. In 1925, at the age of 35, Van Andel-Schipper moved to The Hague together with her parents, where she would meet her future husband Dick van Andel, who worked at the tax office of Amsterdam, ten years later. As he had been married before, Van Andel-Schipper's parents did not approve of the relationship, prompting her to break ties with them. Because of the low amount of food in multiple Dutch cities during World War II, Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper had no choice but to sell her jewelry to buy some food. Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper would be married to her husband for about twenty years, until his death from cancer in 1960; consequently, Hendrikje moved back to Hoogeveen, Drenthe. She remained in good health for about thirty years, before she battled and beat breast cancer in 1990 and moved to retirement home 'De Westerkim' in May 1996, at the age of almost 106. Also known as "Aunt Hennie" or "Grandma Hennie" by some people, Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper gained significant media coverage in her later years, as she was the oldest inhabitant of the Netherlands for a couple of years, met with members of the Dutch royal family at regular intervals, and was often asked for her secrets to longevity; on top of that, with Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper being a fond supporter of the football club Ajax, the club would recognise her support by having its members visit her for her 115th birthday.De oudste Ajax-fan: Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper Some two months later, Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper would pass away peacefully in her sleep. Autopsy and Results Well before she had lived to old age, she had agreed to donate her body to the University of Groningen at the age of 82 in 1972; the autopsy performed on her revealed that she had died of an advanced stomach cancer that had gone undetected. However, a later research revealed that it was probable that Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper would not have lived much longer, as she had only two blood stem cells left functioning; this led to the speculation that the human body is not able to live infinitely, as after a certain amount of time the body is not able anymore to produce new cells.Bloed superhonderdjarige verklaart eindigheid leven Another revelation from the autopsy was that Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper's body seemed to age more slowly than the average one;Oudste mens had bijzondere genen her brains showed no sign of dementia, and did not suffer from arteriosclerosis (one of the main causes of heart problems). On top of that, at the age of 113 Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper scored the average result of a 60- or 70-year-old in a memory test. All of this seemed to suggest that mutations in her body caused her to age less fast than other people. Following Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper's example, Egbertje Leutscher-de Vries (another Dutch supercentenarian) also left her body to science; results of her autopsy further supported the hypothesis that genetic mutations (thus, a genetic cause) are at least partly the reason why supercentenarians grow older than other people.(Dead link) Trivia The phrase "I was born too early and will die too late" was reportedly one of Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper's catch phrases in her later years. When asked about the secret to her longevity, she answered: "I breathe and that's it." While her father died at the age of almost 86 (November 24th, 1864 - November 7th, 1950), her mother reached the advanced age of almost 101 years (Feburary 6th, 1863 - December 29th, 1963). Because her mother didn't had any signs of dementia as well, this means that hereditary factors play an important part during the development of dementia.Kwartierstaat van Hendrikje (Henny) SchipperWaarom is uw moeder/vader dement of juist niet? Her first cousin once removed, Roelof Westebring (1899-2005) also reached a very high age: 106 years and 120 days. Because she had an older sister, Dina, Mrs. Van Andel-Schipper wasn't her mother's favorite child. In a 2002 interview, she stated: My mother was very strict, especially towards me. Not towards my handsome sister, but she found me ugly. I never had a relation with my mother. I did had a very good relation with my father, though. My father never slapped me, my mother did. Sometimes, I couldn't sit down for a day because of the pain.Het lievelingetje van papa of mama Gallery ' JRvCNUD.jpg|Hendrikje in the early 1900's. HvanAndel108.jpg|Hendrikje at age 108. HvanAndel3.jpg|Hendrikje at age 112. Pvdb0001-4.jpg|Hendrikje at age 113. 2804nnhendrikje.jpg|Hendrikje at age 114. H van Andel 115.jpg|Hendrikje at age 115. ' References *Schipper, Hendrikje (1890-2005) *Oudste mens, Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper (115), overleden Category:National Record Holders Category:Drenthe births Category:Drenthe deaths Category:Netherlands births Category:Supercentenarians with centenarian parents Category:Netherlands deaths Category:Childless supercentenarians Category:Supercentenarians with centenarian cousins